Alright, it's the end of March. Time to see what I accomplished in my grand scheme to complete 31 things in 31 days. Let's see:

Read:

1. Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Loved it. Reading about Polyface Farm made me want to become a 'grass farmer'; until I remembered that I am a vegetarian, and raising a bunch of animals to not eat would quickly defeat the purpose. Also, I am paranoid about corn now. And I want to go scavenge some mushrooms.
2. Dr. Manifesto for a New Medicine. Also loved this one; gave me a lot of inspiration for things to do, health-wise, and it was ironic to read his ideas for healthcare reform just after the bill passed. I was thinking they should really just have applied that entire chapter, instead. Still, it helped me to become more clear in what I am looking for when it comes to healthcare providers, and what I am willing/not willing to put up with/accept. Good things.

Did:

3. Took Asher to see an acupuncturist. Very, very nice woman; she sat and listened to his whole history and how I just felt he wasn't as healthy as he is supposed to be, even though he is technically healthy, something just seems off. She was very understanding. :) Tried to do a scan, but he freaked out halfway through, so she went ahead and started treatments and began a regimen of supplements for him and the difference is HUGE. He LOOKS healthier to me, already, and Monday night he got something with gluten and the only way we knew was because he got the rash. No meltdowns, no crazy behaviour, nothing else, just the rash. ALSO, that rash is almost healed. These sores have never healed in less than a week, and here we are, 2 days later, and they are already fading. Our next appointment is Monday, and I am SO EXCITED. The only side effect we had was his waking up repeatedly screaming for a couple nights, but that's stopped too. So wonderful.
4. Signed Asher up for an online class with 2-5 year olds; we'll see how he likes it! Now I have to find/buy a webcam. Ugh.
5. Signed us up for a community seder at the synagogue in the next town. Doesn't seem like a big deal, but it required me finding one, getting in the RSVP before the deadline, and having the money available to send in. Huge.
6. Went to the seder! It was really, really fun. Asher at least had a blast, and we wound up chatting with a Moroccan woman who was fantastic. She seemed to like us too :)
7. Had a playdate, at the park, with another mom with 2 kids. Again, doesn't seem like a big deal, but for me, HUGE.
8. Cleaned for Pesach. Also huge. This may count for 5 items on my list, because that was a lot of cleaning. A lot. We have decided we want a tiny house instead.

Made:

9. Yellow curry for the aforementioned seder. I had the tofu separate, in order to keep it Ashkenazi-safe, and totally forgot to fry it beforehand so it was limp and tasteless, but the curry itself was good and now we are eating the leftovers over rice. Because we eat rice during Pesach. also, beans. and such. yum. Side note: I once had a Russian Jew insist to me that she was Sephardi. Because her family ate rice on Passover. I was like "ummmm....not gonna burst your bubble there, sweetie." I, and our (Mizrachi) instructor were really really confused. Okay, side note done!
10-18. 8 mesh produce bags. I used one of those white mesh curtain sets from IKEA; they are really great! No more plastic bags for our produce, no sir! Except that the mesh is polyester, so they are still technically plastic...hmmm. Second side note: I am amazed by how much IKEA stuff is plastic now. It's almost as if there offerings are dividing into super sheap and flimsy or a little above cheap but sturdy. Maybe?
19-25. Copied out patterns from Ottobre magazine. I scanned one sheet (which took a stinking long time, thanks to a poor dying printer/scanner) then went through each scanned image and copied out all of each color in that image, to be pieced together into the actual pattern pieces. It took a really long time, but less time, and more accurate, than hand-tracing, so there you go. Now I should really sew something with them.

Plus all the things I mentioned previously:

26. Asher's apron
27. The bunny sheet
28-29. Baby carrier + baby carrier pattern
30. Asher's journal
31. Chanukah bags
32. Repairing the chairs.

So, yay, 32! Although you could count those 8 produce bags as one item, but I won't. There were so many things I started out working on that I never finished; I would say the majority of completed items on this list were things not even thought of at the beginning. The massive hutch is still in progress, ugh, and is now in the family room, and somehow, despite measuring the space 5 TIMES, it seems the hutch is too big. I do not know how I did that. I'm not sure what to do about it either. It's a bit, well, enormous, unfortunately, and my Mom is NOT going to be happy. Of course, I'm not really happy with it, so there you go.
Okay, on to April! Maybe this month should be UFO month? :)

March Making update

Halfway through the month, time for an update on my "finishing project".

1. An apron for Asher; he is constantly in the kitchen with me, so I figured I should make him an apron that is more his size; bonus is, he wears it while he's eating too! (This is awesome because he WILL NOT wear a bib. Ever. He would rather starve, while screaming and throwing himself at the floor repeatedly, than wear a bib.)



2. Baby Carrier: love it! Cobbled together from several different patterns and ideas, so I also now have a good, solid


3. Baby Carrier pattern! I love it too. I've put together everything I like from other people's ideas, and made modifications that I really want, and it looks like a good one. I'm going to make up my first one for my friend who is having her 2nd baby next month (!!!) and seeing as her boys will be as far apart as my boys are, she is going to have a lot of use for a carrier like this.


4. Finished updating Asher's 1st year journal. That was emotional and wrenching and so, so sweet.

5-6. 2 Chanukah bags; I've had this fabric for years, and a couple years ago I actually decided what to make from it, but never got around to it. Now I have! I have a stack ready to go, just need to finish assembling the rest.

7. bunny blanket: I assembled a patchwork sheet to put in Broderick's pen; it covers and wraps under the plastic chair mat we got to protect the floor. So far both have been working pretty well; much better than the shower curtain he kept ripping up and shredding.



8. repaired two chairs; both were coming apart, so I squeezed on some wood glue and they are currently drying.

9. My bedroom is ready for Pesach. The reason it is ready for Pesach is because our power got shut off today and all I COULD do was clean. So the bedroom is clean. Next, the bathroom?

In progress are

Rabbit hutch: 50% done; I cut down all the wood, and we started assembling it, but since the stock we bought is narrower than I had planned for I have to make some new cuts. Ugh. My goal is to have this one DONE this week.

Adin's journal updating; this isn't as emotionally hard as Asher's, but it is harder, as I find it's been more difficult to actually remember specific events and times for him. curse of being the second child, I suppose.

Asher's 2nd year now needs to be recorded too. Eeeek.

Vests for my Dad; my Mom commissioned me to make these up for him, 2 cashmere, 2 gabardine. I'm pretty excited, since I get to use the leftover scraps to make vests for the boys. :)

spring quilt; I've had this quilt top ready to be sewn up for a few years now, just pinned together. I finally sewed it together and now I just need to finish making it big enough to cover the ripped side of a comforter. voila, 'new' comforter.

using up all the chametz; I'm halfway through that, although now I have a few trays full of cupcakes that I cannot eat, so Mil and Ann need to eat through them before they go stale. It's a hard job, I know, but someone has to do it.

cleaning for pesach; I've got the cookbooks and one cabinet done. One. Yeesh. I think I need to step it up in this area.

catching up on laundry: my normal routine is one load of diapers, one load of laundry every day. Between being sick and being lazy laundry built up to 12 loads that had to be washed. Now I need to put it all away, but I am also going to purge quite a bit; we do not NEED 12 loads worth of clothing. No sir.

copying patterns from Ottobre magazine. So far I'm halfway through a pair of pants. This work is somewhat tedious, at best, so I'm going to try (again) to use the computer for this. We'll see how that goes.

Other than that I have developed a Ganglian cyst on the underside of my right wrist; I'm assuming from handsawing all the red oak (should have bought poplar! augh! So much less expensive, too) for the bunny hutch. Ouch. However, I will persevere! yes! That's it for the update.

Carry on.

well hello, March

I have a few goals this month,
1. post up my backlog of posts now that I have a card reader and can
2. actually get my pictures off the memory card and onto a computer. Yay!
3. complete one project for every day of March. 31 projects? Absolutely doable, especially since I have at least that many projects in various stages of completion. Not all of them are crafty; for example, I am trying to 'catch up' on the boy's journals, actually writing the entries into the books rather than in various word files on the computer. Also, the baby's scrapbook only has congratulations cards in it at this point. Yeesh. E's 1st year album is awesome; his next one is still in the plastic wrap.
4. use up all of my chametz before Pesach; only one container of flour left! Woohoo! After that, I'm going to try to ban gluten from the house. We'll see how that goes, since C doesn't like the flavor of GF bread. hmm. I may just have to tell him to man up. and he may just go buy bread on his own instead and keep it at work...hey! problem solved! This is pretty good.

Speaking of C, today is his 26th birthday! I am taking him to see Alice in Wonderland tomorrow evening (yay!) aaaaaaaand.... I got him a bunny. So cute. however, I went looking for a small lop (preferably Holland) light-colored female. Instead I got a HUGE juvenile black male full lop. This bunny is going to be HUGE. We love him though. C kept his name, Broderick, and we added on Baruch, so B.B. for short. Which may be confusing since that's what E calls the baby: "beebee!!!!" We'll see. Ok! So, back to the cake making; I'm also making him Swedish meatballs (and veggie versions for myself, K and E).

Ok, this whole initial thing is getting annoying, so from now on we are doing middle names, and probably short versions of middle names at that. So tonight is Milt's 26th birthday, Ash calls Adin "beebee!!!" and Ann and I are enjoying veggie meatballs. You can call me Vicki. Got that? Awesome. Now I may or may not update other entries to reflect this change. We'll see. I do have 31 projects to finish (2 down, 2 almost done, and a whole pile more to go). I may wind up counting the cake as a finished project. ;)

Now, just because I can, here is Adin enjoying a mouthful of sweet potatoes. Yum!